Olympics
Bouvet and Mion End Belcher Streak At ISAF Sailing World Cup Miami
dimanche 2 février 2014 –
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Medals were decided in ten Olympic events on Biscayne Bay under sunny skies and enough wind for good racing. This year’s regatta offered a little bit of everything, including success from former champions, major upsets, and a glimpse into the future of Olympic level one-design sailing.
Men’s RS:X
A Medal Race bullet ensured Byron Kokkalanis (GRE) took gold in style in the Men’s RS:X.
Italy’s Mattia Camboni came out with youthful exuberance in the Medal Race to power ahead early on but Kokkalanis fought back.
Trailing the young Italian by 19 seconds at the first mark Kokkalanis pushed hard to make up the difference as he explained,
"It turned out to be really good in the second half of the upwind. I didn’t have a good start but I tried to cover and I worked well with the shifts and got up to second position at the top.
"I’m very excited to win this race. The World Cup is one of the most important races. I’m really happy, what more can I say.”
Camboni was rewarded for his bright start and took second in the Medal Race, finishing seventh overall whilst the battle for the remaining podium spots played out behind him.
With the points close anything was possible. Nimrod Mashich (ISR) was able to secure silver, finishing in sixth but Brazil’s Ricardo Santos dropped out of bronze having dropped to last in the Medal Race.
Japan’s Makoto Tomizawa replaced him in third having finished in fifth.
Women’s RS:X
World #1 Bryony Shaw (GBR) once again proved her all-round credentials in the Women’s RS:X by taking her first gold of 2014.
Shaw had a bumper 2013, picking up medals in seven of nine regattas and is happy how 2014 has commenced,
"It’s a great way to start the year,” said Shaw immediately after racing. "I’ve led from the beginning of the week and wanted to just make a good race.”
Shaw came through in third in an eventful Medal Race as she described, "I thought I’d put myself in a really good position above the pack. One Italian, Flavia [Tartaglini], who I was defending against was on my hip the whole way to windward and the other Italian [Laura Linares] tacked away to the right side. I kind of lost track of her and when she came back into the picture she had a really nice lever and led us all from the left hand side.
"From then on it was about trying to keep a lane. It was so tight but there was a tight little fumble at the windward mark so I slipped through to third. There was quite a lot of current and I got stuck on the wrong side of the track so had to fight back so I didn’t make it easy for myself.”
Charline Picon (FRA) got caught up at the first mark, holding several of the fleet up. Laura Linares (ITA) was the benefactor of the tangle as she sailed away and opened up a lead in excess of one minute.
As Shaw came through in third picking up gold, Linares’ race victory promoted her up to second, demoting compatriot Flavia Tartaglini (ITA) to third.
Voir en ligne : Press info ISAF / www.sailing.org/swc
– Full final standings : http://bit.ly/1fnNhPJ